Willits Continues Rodeo Tradition

The Willits Rodeo prides itself as being the oldest continuouse rodeo in California. This means generations of rodeo contestants have competed here in the past 88 years.

Friday afternoon, Independence Day, as the second day of the Willits Rodeo wound down, the bullfighters began to assemble behind the chutes, putting on their gear and mentally preparing themselves in the shade of the announcer's booth. Among the first on the scene was Jesse Aitkin, 21, of Laytonville. Lanky and a head taller than many of the day's other riders, he sat in a pile of equipment, bootless and expressionless. Aitkin travels around the country competing in rodeos, and working as a bullfighter, when he's healthy he tries to do it at least one a week.

When asked why he does it, he explained it's all about the rush, "It's adrenaline just flowing through you. I've been in a few car wrecks and you get just as much adrenaline from that. It's pretty nuts."

Next on the scene was Dominic Fanucchi, 20, of Middletown. When this clueless city-slicker reporter, who'd never before attended a rodeo, asked the boys whether they were competing against each other, Fanucchi pleasantly corrected him. "It's competing against the bulls," he said. "You ride your bull; you get a score on the board."

While Aitkin remained seated, staring into space, Fannuchi hitched his bull rope to a rail and began loudly rosining it up, tugging on it to test stickiness and grip.

"Everybody approaches it from a different angle," said Aitkin, who'd recently had his knee busted up by a bull. "This is my first one back from injury, so I'm trying not to think of anything."

Dakota Thompson, 20, of Ukiah, had a much more relaxed attitude. In contrast to Aitkin's laconic intensity, Thompson stood there in his New Balance sneakers joking that he'd be competing in boots borrowed from Fanucchi. He'd recently made the mistake of lending out all his gear and was left without even his own pair of cowboy boots.

Michael McKinnon, 19, was the only Willits resident competing that day. He emphasized the camaraderie between the riders, pointing to the bulls and saying, "They're the ones there to get you."

Unfortunately, none of the riders that day managed to make it to eight seconds, leading to no score.

Aitkin was thrown by the bull Carbon Copy. Fanucchi, in an impressive attempt to win a head-butting contest with the bull Low Life, suffered a bloodied face. Josh Daries, 25, of Salinas, the rodeo's bullfighter, was skilled throughout; saving Fanucchi from more serious injuries.

Thursday night Daries rescued a rider from being crushed against the railing and received uniformly high praise from all the riders.

The tensest moment of the afternoon came when EP Beltran, of Laytonville, was thrown and stomped on by his bull. As he lay motionless paramedics and his fellow riders rushed into the arena to help him. They worked on him for several minutes while the announcer asked the audience for prayers and explained that in bull riding "Injuries are waiting for you down the road."

Beltran suffered broken ribs and was taken to the hospital. While being carried out of the arena on a stretcher, he held his hand up in a thumbs-up the whole way out. Beltran is said to be doing well.

After the event McKinnon, still excited with adrenaline, talked about what it was like to ride, "It felt like a million dollars, I just bear down and do what I came there to do, and ride to the best of my ability." Asked what goes through the head of a bull rider he replied, "To be honest you really don't think, you just do pretty much everything on instinct.

"It always could've been better, but I had grit and I tried. But like I said it could always go better, and there are things I can improve on."

For announcer Ted Dwyer, who works between 40 and 45 rodeos a year, Willits is a special place. He used to be a bullfighter, and worked his first Willits Rodeo in 1976. He continued to work as a bullfighter for many years until a particularly bad set of torn ligaments took him out of the arena, and into the announcer's booth.

He has continued to attend the Willits Rodeo in his new capacity, and has a deep appreciation for the event, "Willits is a fun spot. It has a hard working community, and is kind of a reunion. You meet your old friends and sometimes you meet your enemies--and sometimes they become your friends."